Thoughts on Disrupting Healthcare at MIT GSW 2016

Thoughts on Disrupting Healthcare at MIT GSW 2016

Reflecting the increased industry attention towards healthcare,Disrupting Healthcare was the first panel of the three-day MIT GSW conference. It was thoughtfully moderated by Christian Tidona, Founder and CEO of BioMed X Innovation Center. Here were three thoughts I left attendees with:

1) Build solutions for the future versus the present. We need to imagine a time when robotics, drones, Internet of things, virtual reality, synthetic biology, genetic testing are not the future anymore but very much a reality. It is for that kind of a future that startups need to build solutions because the future would be here by the time our solutions are completed. We need to ask ourselves, how could healthcare delivery be if most homes had a couple of robots and a VR headset just like they have smartphones today?

2) Global convergence of healthcare. Across various health systems, the approach to healthcare is converging. There’s increased reliance on diagnostic testing. Disease burden across countries is increasing. Insurance costs are rising. Most people would like a more personalized, predictive system. Medical data and its analysis is driving medical decisions. There are more things in common among health systems today than differences. When we think of solutions, we need to see them in the context of a global healthcare delivery system instead of something that’s localized.

3) Jump into the healthcare pool instead of reading about it. It’s an exciting time to be healthcare. It presents the biggest challenges and opportunities of our times. Entrepreneurs need to start swimming before figuring out solutions, which won’t arise by simply reading about the healthcare industry. They need to start doing.

About MIT GSW
MIT Global Startup Workshop hosts its conferences in a different international location every year. Since 1998, the organization has held 16 global workshops spanning 6 continents, attracting participants from 70 countries.